The majority of modern commercial aircraft designs incorporate some form of lavatory—i.e., a facility of the type customarily used by airline passengers for various hygienic functions. There has been increased interest in the last few decades in improving the accessibility of aircraft lavatories to handicapped passengers, prompting the promulgation of various related laws and administrative rules. See, for example, Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 (49 U.S.C. 41705); DOT Rule 14 C.F.R. 382 (2003), “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel.”; Suggested Guidelines for Accessible Lavoratories in Twin Aisle Aircraft, Ad Hoc Working Group on Design Guidelines (1992); and Lavatory Accessibility in Single-Aisle Aircraft: Final Report of the Aircraft Accessibility Federal Advisory Committee, Office of Environment, Energy, and Safety, Office of the Secretary of Transportation (1993).
Prior art lavatory designs are unsatisfactory in a number of respects, even when designed in accordance with the foregoing rules and standards. For example, accessibility and ergonomics often focus on lateral transfer or simply “transfer” of the passenger—e.g., the physical movement of an individual between a wheel chair and a lavatory toilet seat. This transfer might be effected by the passenger himself (e.g., independent transfer), or might involve physical assistance by another individual (dependent transfer). In many current lavatory designs, the geometry and position of the toilet with respect to the area reserved for the toilet seat (if such exists) is non-optimal, and transfer can be extremely difficult to effect.
Furthermore, the sink and sink basin in prior art lavatories are often too high and/or too far away for the passenger to effectively use the sink while seated on the toilet assembly. Even in instances where the sink basin is theoretically with reach, its height is such that the resulting angle results in water running down the passenger's arms. Similarly, the passenger often cannot reach the toilet paper, towels, cups, facial tissues, or other amenities such as mirrors and the like.
In addition, the distance from the front of the toilet seat to the side wall in such lavatories is often very small, resulting in a tight fit, and making it difficult for the passenger to move without bumping an elbow or other body part against the wall during transfer. Furthermore, the wheelchair region is often extremely large, allowing the on-board chair to move laterally in an undesirable manner.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide aircraft lavatories that are configured to provide improved access and operation to handicapped individuals Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the various embodiments will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.